I Know Kung Fu

One of my favorite movie scenes of all time comes from The Matrix. Neo has just been rescued from the Matrix and he’s downloading combat training directly into his brain. After one particularly intense session, Neo looks at Morpheus and says, “I know kung fu.”

Life at Credera is a lot like that. Drink from the fire hose. Build it while you fly it. The pace is fast and furious, but the best part is that you are on the journey with excellent people. Along the way, you learn the latest technologies and get to use them to help our clients solve their toughest challenges.

Craig Smith and I just recently finished working on a project where we used the latest technologies to build an application from scratch in six months. Each member of our six-person development team got to work with all the technologies in the solution, gaining new skills while being guided by knowledgeable senior technical leadership.

Craig’s experience at his previous company was much different.

When I started my career in 2010, I worked for a company that provides software for financial institutions. Although the projects I worked on had a lot of impact, my growth as a professional was very limited.

I spent five years using the same technology stack, which included a proprietary language built in the 1980s. I lived in a cubicle and would sometimes go the entire day without talking to anyone. Since I was fresh out of college, I didn’t know any better. I just thought this was the normal life of a developer.

My eyes were opened when a friend introduced me to Credera. I quickly found out that not all companies are equal. Credera was a place where I could expand my horizon and learn new things. A place where ‘teamwork makes the dream work.’ Joining the Credera family was one of the best decisions of my career.

At Credera, Craig is asked to rise to the challenge every day.

While working on this project, the thing that stood out to me most was the leadership. I had the honor of working alongside Simon Saugier, our infamous technical lead. I was blessed to have a leader who not only wanted the best for our client, but who was also looking out for my best interest. He knew that part of this journey was for me to sharpen my skills as a consultant. Instead of giving me tasks that were ‘comfortable,’ he trusted me with things that were outside my area of expertise. This helped me grow tremendously as a developer.

My motto has always been ‘It’s not that I can’t do it, I just haven’t been given the opportunity to learn it yet.’ Simon gave me opportunities to increase my knowledge by trusting me to build server-side code when I was primarily a front-end developer. Thus, I could learn new technologies across multiple layers of the application.

Having the trust of leadership gave me the confidence to take on any challenge that came up in our project. When people are counting on me, I am motivated to make them proud.

But Craig didn’t have to “go it alone.” The team rallied around each other and came along side to help.

Everyone at Credera is a rock star. That is why I love working for this company. During my project, there were times when I had questions and needed help figuring something out. Each person on my team was ready and willing to jump in and help. Some of my favorite memories were the times when we would gather around the whiteboard and sketch out ideas. Finding solutions to problems is a lot easier when you have people to lean on for support. I’m thankful to work alongside amazing people who understand the value of teamwork.

At Credera, we believe it is critical for each member of the team to be equipped to meet the client’s needs. We seek out ways to increase the skills of our peers. Thus, we build better solutions and provide a superior level of service to our clients.

Case in point: At the end of this project, one of our client team members commented, “I’ve been on projects before where the architect knew everything and the team members just did as they were told. But on this project … everyone knew everything!”

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